Chapter 69 <Zifeiyu, Anzhi the joy of fish>

"Autumn Water", an outer chapter of "Zhuangzi", records a dialogue between Zhuangzi and Huishi when they were watching fish on the trench beam.Zhuangzi said: Minnows travel leisurely, which is the joy of fish.Hui Shi asked: The child is not a fish, who knows the joy of fish? Zhuangzi replied: The child is not me, how do you know that I don't know the joy of fish? There are Huishi's criticisms and Zhuangzi's answers below, so I won't quote them here. Both Huishi and Zhuangzi's questions and answers about whether they know that swimming fish is happy are of a sophistical nature.First, as a correct question, Huishi should ask Zhuangzi: How do you know that fish are happy?But Huishi added another premise: you are not a fish, how can you know that fish are happy?This constitutes an omission reasoning, the major premise of omission is:

Nothing but a fish can know that a fish is happy. Second, as the correct answer, Zhuangzi should explain why he knows the reason why the fish are happy. Zhuangzi avoided answering positively, but caught Huishi's son Feiyu, An Zhiyu's joy, and asked back: You are not me, how do you know that I don't know the joy of fish?This rhetorical question also constitutes an omitted reasoning, and the major premise of the omission is: Anyone who is not me cannot know that I know the happiness of fish. We believe that the two major premises omitted in Huishi's question and Zhuangzi's rhetorical question cannot be established, because a more general premise is hidden (or omitted) above both:

A man cannot know anything other than himself. This is an agnostic view, and it is not true.